A bowl of Special
Beef Pho ($7.5, small) had a sweet broth that’s probably the most
delicate one I’ve come across so far. It’s also viciously spicy, which is
unusual for pho unless if you add in the condiments yourself. It took one sip for
Chris to choke on the unexpectedly peppery soup, and he proceeded to rub his
watering eyes with hands that had touched chilli mere moments before. It turned
his face an interesting shade of puce that would have made Uncle Vernon proud,
and if his eyes were watering before, they were practically raining tears of pain
now. Apparently Chris didn’t connect the dots that touching chilli, then
rubbing your eyes could do this. Silly boy.

Anyway.

The bovine bits in the pho were of good quality but fairly
standard, though a puck of rustic beef sausage is a cut above the rest. Some
onion slivers would have been nice. The highlight of the otherwise average and
slightly too sweet dish was the noodles, piled high in a hefty mound underneath
the clear broth, way more than what either of us could finish.

Small Chicken Fillet Pho ($7.5)

Resigning himself to a Chicken
Fillet Pho ($7.5, small), Chris was treated (though he would beg to
differ) to a bowl of soup that’s pure and clear, and once again delicately
sweet, but not overly so this time. The porcelain-white chicken fillets were
sliced into even pieces, and the soup distinctly lacks the sickly colour and
too-tasty flavour of MSG. It’s probably the best chicken pho I’ve had to date.

I’m going to be honest; I would much rather have my pho in
Richmond, where everyothershop serves an excellent bowl
of noodles. But I can’t pretend that I’m not happy to have found a decent spot
of pho that’s relatively easy to get to from my house, and not to mention, cheap
to boot. Now if only I could finish the enormous serving AND have room left
over for some freshly made Chinese donuts.

4 comments:

I've been here before! :D I think I wrote a post about it too. :) There's actually quite a lot of good pho places in Springvale I find and it's SO much closer to home than Richmond that I hardly go there to eat pho...I always get my shopping done here as well. :)